Serial recap – season two, episode seven: Hindsight, Part 1

Last time on Serial, the show explored PFC Bowe Bergdahl’s reasons for walking off his post at the US army outpost in Afghanistan. Bergdahl saw issues – possibly life-threatening ones – in the way he and his fellow soldiers were being treated by army leadership and felt that the only way he could draw attention to their plight was by creating the so-called DUSTWUN, a decision that led to his capture by Taliban forces and will eventually take him to a court martial this August.

This week, host Sarah Koenig tries to figure out whether Bergdahl’s story is believable or if it was concocted in hindsight as a way of justifying his decision to go awol. “He had some years to work on that,” one of Bergdahl’s platoon mates told Koenig.

Koenig admits that she wasn’t sure she believed Bergdahl’s story, at first. The discrepancy between Bergdahl’s account of wandering into the night and being surrounded by fighters, and the Taliban’s version where he had walked into a kuchi tent and was captured, stuck with her and made her doubt his version of the story. She’s past that now.

According to Koenig’s research, while Bergdahl felt that his platoon’s leadership was dangerously bad, many of his platoon mates actually liked the army brass. Other soldiers also completely disagreed with Bergdahl’s assessment that the only way to get noticed was to create a DUSTWUN, a thought one soldier dubbed “so utterly outlandish it’s insulting.” (1) FOB Sharana, where Bergdahl’s platoon was stationed, had a large presence of top-level military officers, most of whom had an open-door policy for anyone with a concern. Koenig points out that while it may be true, it’s doubtful anyone would have taken Bergdahl’s concerns seriously, which he knew.

Koenig also talked to a few of Bergdahl’s fellow soldiers who felt that he had been overly friendly with the Afghan soldiers who were also stationed at OP Mest. His familiarity led some of his platoon mates to believe that Bergdahl was in cahoots with the Taliban. According to their reasoning, why else would you dare to walk off into the desert at night? “Where are you going to go? There is no other option, you’ve either got our side or the Taliban’s side,” said one soldier.

Rumor on the base was that the day Bergdahl went missing two Afghan military police (AMP) were also missing, one of whom may have sold Bergdahl out to the Taliban leading to his capture. Koenig was unable to verify the story, though, and it sounds like she really tried. In his conversation with film-maker Mark Boal, Bergdahl also denied it, saying that he didn’t trust anyone.

After the ice cream

The strongest evidence that people use to claim Bergdahl was simply deserting with no higher purpose other than getting the hell out of there, was that he had apparently discussed his desire to flee numerous times before he actually did it – even talking about it before he arrived in Afghanistan.

Shane Cross, one of Bergdahl’s former friends and platoon-mates who shot himself in the foot, said Bergdahl told him that he had thought about walking through Pakistan and into India. Cross compared the conversation to sitting around with friends, an ice cream truck drives by and someone says, “Hey I would like ice cream!” and then the next thing you know, they are gone, you’re going to assume they went after the ice cream. Austin Lanford, the guy who Bergdahl was supposed to relieve from guard duty the night he disappeared, is hesitant to make that leap, though. “We all had weird thoughts while we were over there, isolated from anybody,” he said, and many of Bergdahl’s fellow soldiers seemed to agree that saying something dark and outlandish was par for the course while on a tour of duty.

‘He just didn’t pack for that’

General Kenneth Dahl, the military investigator in charge of Bergdahl’s case, heard all of this evidence about Bergdahl’s planned desertion and concluded that Bergdahl was telling the truth. “His stated motive was well meaning,” he wrote in a statement. “Ironically, the basis for his stated motive was incorrect.”

Boal also ended up believing Bergdahl, but for more practical reasons, namely, that Bergdahl was a careful planner and hadn’t brought food or water for a long journey. “He just didn’t pack for that,” said Boal. After days of conversation with Bergdahl, Boal realized that Bergdahl really believed that the only way to protect himself and his fellow soldiers and draw attention to his concerns was to walk off the base. “It is a totally wackadoodle conclusion to make, but not if you’re Bowe Bergdahl. Then it makes perfect sense,” said Boal in what could be the most concise summary of the second season of Serial.

If you want to know about Bowe, talk to Kayla

Back in episode five, Bergdahl’s lifelong friend Kim Harrison attempted to get Interpol involved in finding Bergdahl. Bergdahl was a lonely, homeschooled teenager who didn’t get along with his parents when he first met Harrison and according to Koenig, Harrison took him in and essentially cared for him as if he were her own child. “Kim is the odd adult who actually loves teenagers,” Koenig said in episode five (2). “And she loved Bowe. She understood him. She worried about him.” One of Harrison’s biological children, Kayla, was also a big fan of Bergdahl and Koenig said that everyone told her, “If you want to know about Bowe, talk to Kayla.” In her interview with Koenig, Kayla waxed eloquently about how “gentlemanly” Bergdahl was to her.

When the Harrisons opened a teashop in the ski town of Ketchum, Idaho, Bergdahl worked there. “He helped me make crepes,” she said. “Mostly he would hide weapons everywhere and sit in a corner and watch people.” While Kayla and Koenig laughed about that, it’s a bit of an eyebrow-raising statement that Bergdahl would hide flails and ice picks around the shop. “He’s a protector,” said Kayla by way of explanation.

According to Koenig, Bergdahl’s friends painted a picture of a teenager “trying to figure himself out”. He had never been to school and was searching for answers about life. Perhaps most telling was Kayla’s description of Bergdahl’s moralistic, honor-driven passion: “You know there’s a problem in the world, but what kind of human are you unless you’re doing something about it?” According to Kayla, if you don’t live by that code, Bergdahl has no respect for you. “He has the least flexible system, ever,” she said.

‘Adjustment disorder with depression’

Bergdahl wanted more from life and so, like many before him, he absconded to France to try and join the French Foreign Legion. He went to Florida to learn boats and attempted to cycle down the west coast, which was cut short when he was hit by an RV. Back in Idaho, he decided to join the military. Kim Harrison thought it was a terrible idea for him, especially with his personal rigid code of conduct. She urged him to join the coast guard instead. He did, but he only lasted a few weeks in boot camp. He returned to Idaho saying he had been given a “psych discharge”, which he claimed to have faked to secure his release. While the Harrisons were happy to see him, they didn’t think he faked the psychological results. Apparently you can join the US military after a psych discharge from the coast guard.

According to Gen Dahl’s investigation, Bergdahl was found on the floor in the fetal position, crying and covered in blood from a nosebleed. He was taken to a hospital and diagnosed with “adjustment disorder with depression”. He was recommended for discharge and told that if he wanted to re-enlist he had to be cleared by a psychologist.

Bergdahl saw this as a failure and wanted to sign up for the military to prove himself. “When I joined the army, I thought I was in a much better position,” said Bergdahl. Because of his psych discharge from the coast guard, the army had to waive its usual standards to let Bergdahl enlist. The army was willing to lower its standards because of the so-called surge in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to Koenig, by 2008 when Bergdahl enlisted, 17% of the soldiers had been issued waivers, while normally it was closer to 4%. It’s unclear whether anyone in the army ever saw the coast guard doctor’s notes about Bergdahl’s mental state.

When he showed up in Idaho in uniform, Kim Harrison summed up his decision as “the worst idea ever”.

Next time, Koenig will explore whether the military should have let Bergdahl enlist.

One note on Bergdahl’s legal case (3): a stay was issued in his court martial, which will remain in place until an appeals court can resolve a dispute involving the sharing of classified evidence with Bergdahl’s defense team.

Notes

1. Long After Bergdahl’s Release, His Hometown Is Still Under Siege
2. Fmr Defense Secretary: US ‘paid too high a price’ for Bowe Bergdahl
3. Bowe Bergdahl court martial delayed

Observations

• Bergdahl admits that he hung out with the AMPS, but he thought that was part of the mission – make friends and be friendly with the locals. Plus, the food was really good.
• As a teenager, Bergdahl would tape his mouth shut for “a couple of days, just to see what would happen”.
• Bergdahl was a fencer!
• In this episode, it begins to make sense why we haven’t heard from Bergdahl’s parents.